SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University women's soccer freshman Sofia Huerta was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week on Oct. 3. This is the second week in a row a Bronco was named Player of the Week. Last week Julie Johnston received the honor. Against San Diego State on Oct. 2, Huerta registered a hat trick and added an assist for her first collegiate points.

Huerta and the Broncos return to Buck Shaw to open conference play on Sun., Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. against local rival Saint Mary's.

"It is humbling to be recognized by the West Coast Conference," said Huerta of the honor. "I'm very proud that I could contribute to my team's success in any way. This wasn't an individual effort."

"First of all, I'm very happy for Sophia. She has been close so many times this year since her move to forward in the Oregon game. For her to finally break through in such a dramatic fashion with a hat trick makes everyone happy," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "Two of her three goals were hit with such power that you rarely see in the women's game. She has the potential to be a great goal scorer going forward if she commits harder to working at the mental side of her game."

In the eighth minute Huerta ran down a ball just before it went out the end line and centered it to the middle of the box. Cate Parchinski dove for the ball and headed it past the goalkeeper. The assist was the first of Huerta's collegiate career.

Three minutes later Huerta scored her first Bronco goal. From a few yards outside the top of the box Julie Johnston played a through ball to Huerta who took a dribble and blasted her shot into the back of the net.

In the 65th minute Meleana Shim played a long ball that Huerta ran down and gained control of at the top-right of the box. She rocketed a shot that flew past the goalie for her second goal of the game.

Minutes later Parchinski played a ball to Huerta in almost the same spot in the top-right of the box and with a nearly identical shot she completed the hat trick and put Santa Clara up by a score of 5-0. The hat trick was the first of the season for the Broncos and the sixth time a Santa Clara player has scored multiple goals in a game this season.